Abstract
Wanshan mercury mine is the largest cinnabar deposit in Guizhou, China. Few effective methods had been achieved to remedy Hg heavily contaminated field soils. In this paper, a modified EK method with approaching cathodes (AC-EK) and an I−/I2 lixiviant was described to remedy mercury-contaminated field soils near Wanshan mercury mine. Paddy Soil I and Paddy Soil II were sampled and contained 576.73 ± 45.50 and 491.35 ± 4.73 mg/kg Hg, respectively. Although they contained 6.9 and 9.4% organic matter respectively, more than 92 and 89% Hg were removed by AC-EK within 5 days. Removal ratio increased by 0.21 and 0.68 times using EK process with ACs over that with one single cathode (SC-EK). AC-EK method saved nearly 26.4–28.1% electric power as compared to SC-EK method. As an I−/I2 lixiviant solution was used to solubilize HgS(HgO) during EK process, the bonding of Hg to organic functional S groups should be less important than the binding to inner sites of organic matter in soil. The relationship between EK remediation effect and soil organic matter content was fitted to a linear model. It turned out that when soil OM increased by 1.0%, EK removal ratio (%) of Hg would decrease by 2.63%.
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The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 28467001 and 20377028) for this study.
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Shen, Z., Zhang, J., Qu, L. et al. A modified EK method with an I−/I2 lixiviant assisted and approaching cathodes to remedy mercury contaminated field soils. Environ Geol 57, 1399–1407 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1418-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1418-6